7/10
Happened to catch this one on TV and I'd always wanted to see it. Pretty unbelievable cast, all things considered. The plot is interesting and based on a compilation of real-life porn figures, but the scenario is pretty predictable (everybody's riding high in the 70's, big crash upon entering the 80's) and the ending was a bit too "shiny happy people" for me, all things considered. It was enjoyable though and there were a couple of poignant moments.
7/10
A pretty good movie in its own right but unlike Death Proof, I didn't think it was very much the "grindhouse" movies of old. It started out that way but then with the whole biochemical stuff and the massive explosions it started feeling a bit too over-the-top and CGI'd out, which I felt took away from the experience a bit. In any event, it had some really funny scenes and some cool action, so I can't dislike it too much.
8/10
I liked it a lot and thought Tarantino held true to the kinds of movies he and Rodriguez were paying homage too. It was a bit too talky at times, but was never too uninteresting for too long. The final car chase was pretty amazing, as was the crash that ends the first half. I also wish there was more Kurt Russell but I guess the less you know about him, the scarier the character.
8/10
Most of the excitement and eye-popping visuals take place in the first one rather than spread out evenly between the two volumes so Vol. 2 moves a bit slower (despite being longer) than its predecessor. Nevertheless the movie is still very enjoyable, and David Carradine steals every scene he's in (Michael Madsen is also excellent). The ending is surprisingly touching although like in the first one, the movie's final showdown is an abrupt one. I also thought some of the stuff at the end was kind of cheesy but I'd spoil the ending if I went into greater detail so I'll leave it at that. Very satisfying end to a story that's far more inventive than it first appears.
4/10
I'm really surprised so many people liked it. I saw it last night and thought it was incredibly boring, almost astonishingly self-indulgent, overlong, and just an all-around waste of time. The dialogue (Tarantino's forte) is generally uninteresting and too many scenes drag on for no real reason other than, from what I can tell, pure self-indulgence. The only interesting character (and the only one Tarantino bothered to develop) was Christoph Waltz's...and while he was good, I was underwhelmed considering he took Best Actor at Cannes and has been getting Best Supporting Actor Oscar buzz.
Brad Pitt was good when he was given something to do (the whole Italian-speaking scene was great) but he was criminally underused in the movie. We only really got to know a handful of the other Basterds and even then it was only in passing. You could have chopped at least an hour out of the movie and you wouldn't have lost any of the emotional impact (of which there was none, but nevertheless). Really disappointing.
8/10
Yep, took me this long to get around to this classic...great, fun movie but I can't help but think that anyone watching a Godard movie in 2009 will, for the most part, miss out on what made them so special back in 1960. Godard seems very much "of his time" and while it's possible to still appreciate and enjoy them now, you can't help but feeling you're missing out on something.
As an aside, this was a copy of one I rented a long time ago and it wasn't the Criterion version. Annoyed at myself for getting an inferior version, I did some reading and found that the Criterion release of Breathless is actually illegal in Quebec because it's a French movie being sold under an English title. Come ot think of it, that may explain why it's so hard to find Godard's movies for sale here...
8/10
I haven't watched many Holocaust documentaries (and this one isn't really a documentary) but the images in this one have to be as harrowing as any other out there. It was shot in 1956 so it's one of the first post-WWII movies to touch on the subject and the current footage of the now-inert concentration camps still sitting there overgrown with green grass is just...disorienting. Too bad the movie is so short (30 mins) because I would have liked to have seen more.
2/10
I thought comedies were supposed to make the viewer laugh. Was I missing something? The script was lousy and both Ferrell and Reilly seemed to be sleepwalking (not a reference to their painfully unfunny sleepwalking habits in the movie). The jokes all sound like they're crafted to become campus quotables ala Anchorman but Anchorman was naturally funny, this one was just stupid.
7/10
Pretty good, surprisingly conventional fare from Werner Herzog. I chose to think of the movie as more a story about a man who has trouble fitting in anywhere outside of institutions rather than a metaphor for the cruel reality of the "American dream" but I guess either works. The famous chicken scene at the end was hyped so much it didn't really register with me, but I'm sure it would've back in '76.
6/10
Enjoyable enough, not nearly as good as Chasing Amy, the other Kevin Smith movie with which it shares many similarities. I thought the relationship between Zack and Miri felt too forced to really have any sort of emotional impact and there wasn't a whole lot to laugh at on the comedy side. Unlike Chasing Amy, the plot/romance was way too predictable.
9/10
Amazing and ahead of its time...watching it now it's still hard to believe it got away with some of the stuff it did. Gloria Swanson is incredible.
7/10
Pretty good. Goes into a bit more character depth than the last 30's gangster movie I saw (Little Caesar) but retains the basic 'childhood friends (brothers in this instance) take divergent career paths' premise with more than a bit of preaching. James Cagney is very good in his first starring role, and the ending is pretty unforgettable.
